Day 37

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We awoke to a beautiful day. Anticipation hung in the air. We had been looking forward to seeing Iquazu Falls since before we left London and now we were here.

On the Argentinean side of the falls there are three main view points. The ’best’ one looks into the “Devils throat” and from what we had read, it was suggested that you visit the Devils throat last, thus working you’re way up, so to speak. It is also suggested that you go around 5pm so as to avoid the worst of the crowds. Well neither Anna nor I were too concerned about working our way up, so we went straight there.

I have used the words ‘fantastic, amazing, beautiful, spectacular’ many times before in this blog. Unfortunately none of them can capture the sheer wonder of the falls. The roar as you approach slowly gets louder until it is almost deafening, and we were there when the water flow for the falls was about average for the year! A mist hangs in the air, created by pulverised water. There isn’t much point in trying to stay dry, and since the temperature is somewhere in the low 30’s anyway Anna and I didn’t bother trying.

After staring into the devils throat for a number of minutes we decided to investigate a couple of the other paths. There are two main circuit’s the upper and the lower. The lower was the longest one, taking around an hour, so we decided to do that before lunch. It was around this time that it started to rain. As we were already wet we saw no point in seeking shelter and began the circuit.

The falls are vast, during the hour in which we walked around the falls we kept seeing new and amazing sights. I’m not a butterfly man, but I was awe struck by the variety and beauty of all of the butterflies we saw at virtually every step. At the halfway point of the lower circuit you get to a point where the platform extends to about 2 metres from the base of one of the falls. We approached and at the end you are buffeted by the wind created as the water smashes into the rock. We had thought we were already as wet as we could possible get, but within seconds of reaching the platform we were soaked through and felt exhilarated.

Along the various paths there are boards with information about one thing or another. One of these stuck me as being note worthy. Simply put, it started that 40 years ago the waters ran clear, but because of all of the deforestation the water in now muddy. After travelling around Patagonia and seeing the crystal clear lakes, it took me as profoundly sad that these waters are not the same. The wonder of what we saw would have been magnified a thousand fold if the waters had not been brown. This brings me to my final point, there is a search underway for the new 7 natural wonders of the world which people can vote for. Unsurprisingly Iquazu Falls is on the list. I feel that until the waters run clean, Iquazu Falls should not be voted as one of the new 7 natural wonders. In fact if someone feels like it, can I suggest that you create a poll for the top 7 natural wonders of the world destroyed by man, and put Iquazu Falls on the list.

Okay, so after our trip, we decided to head out for dinner, it was our last night in Argentina and we wanted to toast to a very successful first 5 weeks. Wow five weeks already, it only seems like a few days.

I’ll take this moment to thank Anna for all of her wonderful organisational skills. If it had been up to me…. Well we wouldn’t have seen or done half of what we did. She is an amazing woman.

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